Welcome to Carista. We are an original fantasy roleplay forum set in the world of Carista -- a place where the eight different systems of control are divided across countries and oceans and blood. The systems of control are Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Ice, Plant, Health and Time -- all given to humanity in ages past.

Now, during a golden age throughout the kingdoms, rumors have come of the Loners discovering an ancient building deep underground that contains a legendary Relic that may hold the key to ultimate power or destruction. And so the race of kingdoms begin with the prize being a Relic of untold power...

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Personality: Ivan's nickname, Silvertongue, has been given to him for a reason. The man is a talker. In every argument, he must have the last word, and you can bet that the last word will be a sarcastic one. He is a smart ass in the first degree, always at the ready with a quip and a smirk. He weasels his way out of a lot of trouble with law enforcement with slick words and clever half-truths - or outright lies. He can weave a web of words so crooked that even a spider would have difficulties figuring out where it begins and ends.

Not much seems to phase this seasoned pirate. He doesn't take anything as seriously as he ought. A storm? Eh, no problem. An impending battle? Sure thing. A death? Quick eulogy, send him overboard. The only things that truly matter to him as a captain are his ship, booty and the getting thereof. At this point, it's not even actual greed that keeps him searching for treasure. Over the years, he's accumulated enough to live comfortably on land. What matters to him is the pursuit, the excitement, and the shiny.

Ivan's wife is the sea. His current wife, anyway. Vows, commitments, promises, all that nonsense doesn't count for much in his book. Unfortunately, it did in the books of his last four wives. He has a host of children from assorted mothers, some of them crewmembers, some not. Ivan is a surprisingly good father and remembers the birthdays of each. Though he doesn't believe in commitments, he does believe in consequences and being responsible for them when they finally chase you down. He encourages all his men to do what they wish, but to be ready to face the music.

As a pirate, Ivan is not exactly the most moral of gentlemen. Though he relies more on his words than on violence to get things done, he kills and steals without a second thought. He isn't afraid to cheat to get his way, either. His temper is as unpredictable as a storm-ridden sea. He may stab someone one day for making a joke about his mother when the day before, he would have laughed. It usually dissipates quickly, though, and he never holds a grudge. Except against his second ex-wife, that wench.

Likes:

BOOTY Both the treasure kind and the anatomical kind. He's a pirate. He likes ladies and treasure. Sometimes he even buries it.

BOOZE Where would a captain be without his grog? He drinks rum like water and loves good ale. If Ivan is ever in a sour mood, put a pint in his hand and watch him brighten.

TALKING He likes it so much that it's difficult to get him to shut up. Too much violence can lead to a lot of trouble. Of course, too much talking can lead to violence as well, but he prefers to head things off before they get ugly and he gets arrested.

HIS CHILDREN He's got eleven - that he knows of. Being a pirate and having so many kids, he hasn't been the most attentive father, but he does attempt to have some sort of bond with each of them and loves them all.

LAUGHING Life is one big joke to Ivan. It's so short - why not spend it laughing?

Dislikes:

LOSING BOOTY The treasure kind, not so much the anatomical kind. But this is a sort of love-hate thing; he hates letting things slip away, but loves the chase that comes after. He'll chase a coin across the world if you let him.

QUIET Silence makes him uncomfortable. He always does his best to fill the pauses.

BEING CALLED CRAZY Nevermind that he is. It's one of his greatest pet peeves. He has been known to kill a man over the word.

JAIL Ivan has done multiple stints in multiple prisons across the globe. He doesn't fancy bars and stone walls very much. Free spirit and all that.

EX-WIFE #2 That she-devil.

Elemental Strengths

WEATHER PREDICTIONS Lots of sailors can predict the weather. The difference here is that Ivan is always right. He has a deep understanding and respect of water and insists it can speak to him.

TIDES Like Dulce, Ivan can guide the tides to change the direction and speed of his ship. What makes him most dangerous is that he can also use that direction and speed on his opponents.

Elemental Weaknesses

FRESH WATER His abilities are almost useless when it comes to fresh water. For some reason, he just cannot control it whatsoever.

COMPLEX MANIPULATIONS Like his inability to cope with fresh water, this may be in his own mind. A devout elementalist, Ivan does not believe he is controlling water so much as guiding and requesting it to do as he asks. Therefore, he is unable to do anything unnatural with it (water balls, creating water from nothing, etc.).

Once upon a time, there was a little boy with big dreams. If you didn't guess it, that little boy was Ivan. He was born and raised on the northern Undan coast, the first of six children, to Antonio, a fisherman, and Esperanza, a full-time mother and former schoolteacher. As soon as he could walk, he was on his father's boat, tying knots and securing lines. This was the same for all the children. Every day, they rose before dawn and came home well after sunset, where they would worship at temple before dinner.

At home, Esperanza taught them to read and write while Antonio taught them the math needed to count out and add together the fish they caught and sold. Reading in particular appealed to Ivan. Merchants came into the small town every few months to peddle their wares and Ivan was always first in line at the wagon with his bronze in hand to buy whatever new books he had to sell.

Like most young boys, Ivan preferred the tales of grand adventures, swash-buckling and sword-fighting, rescuing damsels in distress and defeating evil-doers. Experiences like that were hard to find on a fishing boat in a small town. The older he got, the more restless he became. Eventually, at sixteen, he ran away to the city to find his fortune.

He found work on a merchant ship as a deckboy. It wasn't glamorous, but it was a step up. He made a decent little living for himself and didn't have to bother with finding living quarters for himself, being that he was at sea most of the time. It was on this boat that he began training his water abilities. The captain did a lot of work with tides - time was money and any way to speed their journey was welcome. Weather predicting Ivan didn't so much learn as feel. It began with him knowing for a certainty whether or not a storm would be brewing - fairly obvious for any man who had spent a good time at sea - to predicting things as subtle as whether or not the next night would be cooler than usual.

Four years later, he was married to a southern Undan woman, Aurielle, and preparing for his first son. Monetarily, they were not prepared. They moved back north to where his family still lived. Both his parents were ecstatic at the return of their prodigal son and even happier that he had returned with a pregnant wife.

He traveled to a nearby city to look for work and, after an unsuccessful day, settled at a tavern to drink his worries away. It was there that Ivan heard whispers of a certain infamous captain looking for a few good men. The pay would be excellent...if they found the treasure they were looking for. The work would be dangerous, the rumors said. Danger and money both sounded exactly like what Ivan wanted. It never occurred to him that with a child on the way, he should have shown some caution. He found the infamous captain and became one of the few good men of the vessel Mirage.

His family believed he had found another merchant ship, albeit with longer stretches at sea. The truth was that he had joined a pirate crew. Though he was just a deckhand, Ivan was the happiest he had ever been. His water manipulating skills were heavily valued and he was well-liked for his earnestness and naivete. They taught him swordplay, knifeplay, and how not to feel guilty when he slept with another woman when docked.

Note: His parents to this day do not know that Ivan is a pirate. His siblings do, but they all keep it secret for fear of breaking their poor mother's heart.

Ivan fathered three more children by Aurielle, but things between them were changing. He had begun lying, smoking, drinking, and generally being not the man she had married. Instead of being the sweet, gentle, honest fisherman's son, he was transforming into...well...a pirate. The last straw was when he landed himself in jail for two months for smuggling goods to and from Glacies. When he came home, she had run off and taken the children with her.

Note: A few years later, they reconciled, but Aurielle had already remarried. He was allowed to have a large role in the children's lives. She never found out he was a pirate. To this day, she retains a close relationship to Ivan's parents, his mother in particular. Esperanza tries very hard to get her eldest son to settle back down with her.

Losing Aurielle and the children was difficult for him, but he was partly relieved to be free. He traveled the world, building a reputation for himself as an able shipman, deadly with a knife, and entirely too talkative. Two years later, while in Valetudo, he met Chiara Ferrante and had a one night stand with her. This resulted in a child, but he wouldn't learn of that until later.

He was now the first mate and was already being called Silvertongue by his crew mates for his ability to seduce almost any woman with his words. That was how he landed his second wife, Estrella Garcia, that harpy. She was a tough-talking barmaid at a pirate tavern Ivan and his crew frequented. He fell in love with her immediately. After a year long courtship that involved him giving her very, very expensive gifts and involved her slapping him almost every night for some reason or another, they married.

They were married for five years. She was fully aware of his status as a pirate and didn't care. It didn't even matter to her that he had affairs, so long as he came home to her and her alone. Around the time of Estrella's (that chit) last pregnancy by him, Ivan was in Valetudo after having been imprisoned there for a month. After being released, he reunited with Chiara and his hitherto unknown son. He impregnated her again, and married her too. When he came back to Unda with another pregnant wife, Estrella, that cow, burned their home down, sold all the treasures he had given her, and left with all his children. Subsequently, Chiara left him too. Apparently, neither was happy with the idea of sharing a husband.

Note: He never saw Estrella or his children by her again, causing him to hate her with a burning passion, regardless of whether or not he deserved what happened. Chiara settled in Unda and accepted Ivan's help in raising their children.

After this catastrophe, Ivan chose to concentrate on his work. The captain of Mirage had gotten into a duel in which he lost. Ivan naturally took his place. Thus began the most profitable period of Ivan's life. He became famous for a string of robberies on the high seas. Every time a merchant craft felt the sea churn unusually hard beneath them, they checked the horizon for Ivan and his Mirage.

He was arrested briefly in Terra before he could bribe his way free. It was there that he met Misato, his final wife. This was his longest marriage of all of them. Sometimes, she traveled with him, sometimes not, but they mostly lived their own lives and met every time he came to shore. They were together for ten years, but eventually, she left him after meeting someone who better fit her fancy.

Note: Ivan was and is very much involved in Asuka's life and has a friendly relationship with Misato.

He then came into the acquaintance of one Dulce Carriedo. Impressed by her boldness when he took her ship and found her waiting for him, he took her aboard and eventually, she became his first mate and his lover. Then she chucked him overboard. She spared his life, which he did not expect, and he watched her sail off with his one true love, Mirage. He could have destroyed it with the tides, but he chose not to, as he could not kill his own boat.

Ivan wasn't angry with her for it. That was the nature of the pirating business and it was his fault for letting his guard down around a pretty lady. He still had his fortunes buried among various islands and collected enough in a skiff to hire a crew and have Wanderer built. Some of his older sons are crew members, but none of his daughters, as he and their mothers simply won't allow it.

Recently, he ferried a quartet of Brothers to Terra. He had an idea of what they were doing, but opted to play it cool and follow them when they left the dock. Only, they disappeared before he could. He regrets letting them go, but in secret, is also quite pleased that he did. Let the chase begin!

OOC

RP Sample:

Quote :

Thus far, Cillian's trek from Ventus to Valetudo had been exceptionally mundane, quiet, and solitary. In other words, his own personal paradise. Many brothers were making the exodus to Valetudo and many of them offered and/or requested to travel with him. He refused them all. It was no secret that Cillian preferred to be alone and well-known that he could take care of himself very well, just as all the brothers could. He did not understand why they insisted on traveling in groups. It was not for safety. Perhaps monetary reasons, should they stop at an inn? Again, not a concern for him, as he rather enjoyed sleeping outdoors. He also wanted to go at his own pace. Cillian did not linger or dawdle anywhere, as groups of people tended to do. He avoided cities, which always slowed him down with distractions and headaches.

Soon enough, he would be spending all his time in a city. The fact still rankled. Cillian had specifically requested to be placed on the front lines, which he felt was his forte. It was not arrogance that made Cillian believe he was an effective warrior - just cold, hard observance of himself in comparison to others. Instead, they had placed him on surveillance duty, watching the royal family. An important task, undoubtedly. Just not the task for him. Surveillance was notoriously boring. Not only boring, but uncomfortable. Being a glorified guard meant he would have to watch people in their most private moments. The secrets he knew after all his years in the brotherhood would make a spymaster faint.

Now, he was finally in Valetudo. It was not his first trip here, but every time he visited, he was stricken by the natural beauty of his surroundings. Nature was one of the few things in the world that Cillian actually liked and here it was, in all its majesty. Even crossing the small, cold sea that separated Ventus and Valetudo had been an interesting experience, though there had been inclement weather. He did not get seasick and thought it silly that other people did. All of it was different than Ventus, where he had spent most of his life. He admitted to himself that sometimes a little change could be pleasant. Sometimes.

Right now, he was walking through a field of flowers. The sun beat down red hot on the back of his head and his black robes absorbed all the heat, but Cillian did not so much as pause to consider removing an article of clothing. He would not rest until lunch, which would be small and eaten quickly. The grass whipped against his bare hands as he went, making him itch, but he ignored it. The city was close now; if he kept on the same pace, he would reach it by the next afternoon....

He halted, noticing an atypical dip in the flowers ahead. Cillian approached it slowly to find...a girl. Laying in flowers. In the middle of nowhere. How extremely odd. Even stranger, she seemed pleased to be laying on the ground. Women did not like laying on the ground - they insisted on soft beds. He knew this. She appeared to be in tip-top conditions as far as he could see - no blood, no grimace of pain. He stopped a few feet before her head.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked, voice crackling from lack of use. "Are you ill or daft?"

Alias: milksteak

Last edited by Ivan Cardenas on Mon Dec 03, 2012 2:00 am; edited 6 times in total